Once Bitten
by Slytherin'sLamp
Summary: When Draco sends his beloved apple through the vanishing cabinet and somebody takes a bite... *sidenote: this has been published on my friend MiraMara's page before


Draco attempted to smooth back his hair. He stared into his own blue eyes, heavy with dark bags, his face pale and gaunt. He hadn't been eating. Even the thought of food made him nauseous. He wiped his mouth on a tissue and turned to flush it and what had been the meagre contents of his stomach away.

His trembling legs carried him back towards the seventh floor. It was dark, and the torches were lit, flickering shadows danced up and down the corridor. Draco stood still, staring at the blank wall. Nausea still bubbled in his stomach and his limbs shuddered and shook despite his efforts to stop them. He tried a deep breath, blowing out heavily, not caring if he made too much noise. He shouldn't. If he were caught he would have trouble explaining his presence here, so far from the Slytherin common room. He thought tiredly of his bed and wished that he could fall into the soft mattress and sleep, but sleep had been alluding him too and while he was awake he might as well work on his problem. The Dark Lord was not forgiving. The Dark Lord grew impatient. He was scared. Alone in this corridor it didn't seem too much to admit to it. He was scared. For himself, for his mother, for his father…for this castle and its people. Though maybe that wasn't fear but guilt that chewed at him, made his insides roil and sleep so allusive.

He huffed out another breath and began pacing in front of the wall "I require the room where all is hidden." Three times he paced backwards and forwards before a familiar non- threatening wooden door appeared in the wall beside him. Without thinking too much he plunged through the door and into the labyrinth. He didn't think there was another room in the castle he was more familiar with then this one. He had explored it when his exploits had been frustrating, when the cabinet had been stubborn and his magic ineffective.

Now he took a familiar route through the maze of discarded belongings. It was amazing the number of things that had found their way here. Centuries of Hogwarts students had stored their unwanted possessions. Draco suspected that the house elves also used this room. It was the only explanation for the broken furniture that littered the place.

The cabinet came into sight. His bag lay discarded on the floor, he had fled quickly when he had realised he was going to be sick. His sight was drawn to a stall, perched beside the cabinet atop which sat the only comfort he had left in this castle. The only one that understood him, that listened to him, that knew his heart and his desire. Apple. Green and curvaceous, a single flirty stalk and a shine like he had never seen.

"I'm sorry," he said as he approached, "It got the better of me." He glanced at Apple out the corner of his eye to see if it was cross with him for being weak. He didn't think so. He had told Apple days ago of his weakness. "One last spell Apple and then… are you sure you want to do this? Are you sure you must be the one that goes?!" He stared at it, its certainty, its trust. It was over whelming. "How can you trust me. No one else does. They think I am going to fail. They think that my father will rot in Azkaban. If I can do this Apple all will be restored, and the Malfoy family name will be great again." He glanced at Apple again, apple wasn't so sure. "You don't think the Dark Lord is forgiving do you? You think he will treat us badly? When I have done this for him?" The Apple again drew his eye. "Yes for him… and for the Malfoy family name. Imagine the honour he will bestow upon us. We will be his confidants…I do not sound like Aunt Bellatrix Apple… Anyway, quiet, let's do this." He bent over his book, studying his spell again. It was ingenious. It had taken him months to figure it out.

It worked. Draco was almost sure of it. He looked to Apple.

"It's your time to shine Apple," he said. He didn't want to use Apple. His only friend. What if something went wrong? What if the spell hadn't worked. Apple chided him. "I'm sorry," he said again, "I am confident that this has worked… I just don't want you to get hurt." He picked apple up, softly stroking the smooth glistening skin, he ran a daring finger up the stalk and held Apple close, smelling her sweet scent. And slowly placed Apple inside the cabinet. "It will be dark," he warned. Apple was brave, Apple didn't shy away, just sat there, strong and waiting patiently for him to be brave like Apple. Draco shut the door. He lent against it feeling his heart hammering in his chest, afraid and unsure. He tapped the cabinet and muttered the spell of transportation.

A small pop was the only signal that something had happened. He hesitated again, what if he opened it and all that was inside was a pulpy mess. Heart hammering again he wrenched the door open and whooped loudly.

The room suddenly lurched around him, the whole floor and maze of mess shifting so that the door to the room of requirement came into view. Professor Trelawny swayed in the entrance, clutching empty glass bottles in her chest. "OUT!" Draco cried, firing a spell at her. She was knocked backwards out the door, he heard a muffled cry and the tinkling of breaking glass.

"Room, I require you to lock the door, don't allow it to open while I am inside!" He concentrated hard and paced backwards and forwards. He had no idea if it worked. But the room shifted again, the floor lurching, the maze rushing around him until all was as it had always been, and he was back in front of the cabinet, which popped quietly.

Draco rushed to the door and hauled it open. There was apple! He cried in victory and surged forwards, scooping Apple into his arms. He fell backwards in horror. Apple fell from his hands and landed in his lap. He stared, his hand raised to his mouth. Nausea swirled again in his gut. A bite. He couldn't calm his rapid breathing or get his whirling mind to form words instead wordless horror stole over him. Apple's skin broken, Apple's flesh torn, the stalk bent in someone else's rough grip. He cried. Large tears leaked from his eyes and he sobbed at the sight of his Apple. Broken, wounded.

"Why did you insist on going?!" He sobbed, his voice finally returning to him. He reached out again for Apple and once more cradled Apple in his arms. "Oh Apple, who has done this to you?!" The cabinet popped again. Trembling he pulled open the door. A note lay on the floor of the cabinet an untidy scrawl written on ragged paper. _We await your instruction Draco. When do we attack? Fenir_

Draco cried out again. Fenir! He stared from the note down at his beloved Apple. Now he looked closely at the ragged wound he could see two points deeper than the rest. Fenir Greyback had bitten his apple. Fenir Greyback and sunk his dirty, disgusting fangs into HIS Apple! "No, no no," he muttered it over and over again, rocking backwards and forwards, cradling Apple, weeping for her. "No, no… it should have been me," he sobbed. Apple chided him weakly. "It should have been me. I could have tested it… it doesn't matter that I could have been lost forever… my mother? She would have been heartbro… but now I am heartbroken Apple! I am heartbroken, and you are wounded. You won't recover from this! And what does his bite do? Will you turn into a …..wereapple?! What does this mean for you, my beloved, my heart, my joy… what does it mean for us?!"

Draco rocked slowly by himself in bed. He glanced over at Apple, nestled in a drawer, a bed fit for royalty. A bandaged covered the wound and at the moment Apple rested on one side so the wound was turned away from Draco. The bent stalk and the strange discolouring ripple that had come over Apple's once green shining skin the only sign that Apple was not recovering. Apple was ill. That bite had been infected.

"Another student was removed from the school today," Draco muttered, his knees pulled up to his chest. He kept shooting looks at Apple from the corner of his eye, but he couldn't quite make his gaze linger. "It was a full moon last night Apple… I tried to watch you, I tried to stay awake but I was so tired… was it you? It wasn't you was it Apple?" Apple remained silent, wound turned away. "Crabbe wouldn't say so specifically, but… well, did you Apple?! Are you dangerous?!" Draco was crying again. He clenched his hair between his fists and sobbed. His Apple. Could he believe this of his Apple? Not before the bite, for sure… but now? "Oh Apple, what did you do?" He wiped his hand across his face and managed to look straight at Apple, his gaze unwavering, "We are so close…. Tonight, all my plans will come together, I can't lose you Apple." Apple pleaded, emplored, "You're in pain," Draco said in small voice, "You don't wish to be here anymore…" Tears again. More tears. His eyes were sore and swollen. Apple tried to persuade him. Apple's temper suddenly burst, "You would not hurt one of my friends!" Draco gasped in shock, "You wouldn't. I can't believe it of you! Besides we are leaving here tonight. After what I need to do how could we return?!" Apple was more cross, losing patience, "My mother?! What is happening to you Apple? You were so sweet and wholesome… this sourness…" Draco ran a finger down Apple's once firm skin, it was soft now. Bruised and rippled. Apple was dying.

Draco was sitting outside. The time for his plan was almost here. He was just waiting for confirmation of the rumours he had heard. Apple sat beside him, feeling the slight breeze on the dimpled skin, content for now.

"Don't try and console me Apple. I can't believe you have asked this of me. What will I do without you?" A kind of cold stillness had over taken Draco. All emotion was spent. They had argued for hours, for days until he had finally agreed. He couldn't take Apple home with him. What if Apple attacked mother? Or the Dark Lord? "It is unlikely I will live very long anyway…" Draco sighed. He was watching the front doors when the rumours he had heard were confirmed. Dumbledore was leaving the school for the evening. He didn't see Draco sitting in the grounds beside Apple. He marched straight down and out of sight.

"It's time then Apple," he said, "Are you sure there is no other way?" Apple wasn't moved. Apple must be destroyed. Apple had been free to pray on people for too long. Apple's beauty, Apple's sweetness, it had all be consumed by the bite, and now Apple was just a drag on Draco. Draco had tried to convince Apple otherwise, but Apple was set. Apple must be destroyed. Draco lifted Apple gently and carried Apple through the grounds towards the forest. He lifted Apple carefully and brushed his lips gently against the dulled skin.

"Goodbye, beloved." He held Apple a moment longer while his heart broke inside and then turned and tossed Apple gently at the Whomping Willow. The tree seemed to sense the incoming Apple, its branches thrashed wildly. Apple was gone. A pulpy splatter of flesh all that remained. Draco's chest hurt. But it was like a blanket of non-emotions fell over him. He became numb. Now, in Apple's honour he would complete his nights challenge. He ran for the room of requirements.

Dumbledore was injured and weak. He was cradling a burned looking hand. His wand had disappeared out the window. Draco stood over Dumbledore his wand in his hand. His plan had worked. The Death eaters were in the castle. He had trapped Dumbledore, now all he had to do was kill him.

Dumbledore was talking but his words weren't really registering. A part of Draco seemed to have become unattached from the rest of his consciousness. Watching in his minds eyes, Apple, soaring towards the tree… and then, Apple, no more. The chill had turned into an ache. Apple consumed his thoughts. In the wake of Apple's loss what did he care for the Dark Lord and his threats. What did he care about who won and who lost? All he cared about was that sweet, gentle Apple was gone. And would sweet, gentle Apple want him to do this? Is this what Apple wanted for him? To become a beast? A murderer. His wand arm lowered as his indecision took hold. He looked down again at the broken old man before him, suddenly reminding him of his poor, broken Apple.

He jumped as a crash brought him back to his senses. Snape was before him. He spoke to Dumbledore, looked at him in disgust, raised his wand. "Avada Kedavra!" A flash of green, almost as brilliant as Apple's skin. Then Snape was hauling at his arm, pulling him down the stairs. Taking him away from Hogwarts, away from Apple's remains. Away from his only love.


End file.
